A few hundred brains go collectively pentatonic

“If you still needed proof that the brain has amazing, innate puzzle-solving capabilities, watch this video. At last year’s World Science Festival, Bobby McFerrin led the entire audience in a exercise that beautifully, magically, instantly revealed part of the brain’s natural pattern-matching habits, at least when it comes to the recognition of the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale, by the way, is the foundation of all kinds of world music, which is obviously no accident. We’re born to appreciate it.” Couldn’t really put it any better.